Transplantations: The number of organ donations continues to fall

Status: 03.11.2022 3:16 p.m

8,500 people are currently waiting in Germany for a donor organ. The criteria have only recently been adjusted. But the number of donors continues to fall. Medics are concerned.

The number of organ donors has decreased significantly in Germany. By the end of October, organs had only been removed from 710 people for transplantation, as the German Foundation for Organ Transplantation (DSO) announced. That is 8.4 percent fewer donors than in the same period last year.

The lack of organs has worsened again, according to the foundation for the annual congress. She looks “with great concern” at the current situation. The number of organs donated after death has also decreased and was 2178 so far this year – more than 200 organs fewer than in the same period last year.

8,500 people still on the waiting list

There are currently around 8,500 seriously ill people on the waiting list. The situation for waiting patients is “extremely depressing,” said Axel Rahmel, Medical Director of the DSO.

The DSO sees the corona pandemic as one of the reasons, which has put an additional strain on the health system and caused numerous staff shortages in clinics. “Organ donation is a very demanding task that not only requires intensive medical expertise, but also time and resources,” said Rahmel.

The criteria for organ donations were adjusted in May – but the number of donors remains low.

Image: dpa

Corona-Positive people are also allowed to donate

Since the beginning of this year, however, organs from corona-positive donors can also be transplanted. So far there have been 39 infected donors in Germany and a total of 114 organs. None of the recipients were infected. Previously, corona positives, contact persons and those returning from risk areas were excluded from organ donations. So far, however, “very few” corona infections from infected donor organs are known worldwide – “and these only in connection with a lung transplant,” said Rahmel. “Extreme restraint” still applies to these.

In May of this year, the German Medical Association and the German Transplantation Society adjusted the criteria for donors in Germany.

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